Improvement in carriage-wheels



W. P. ELAM.

Axte Box. No. 95,098. v v Patented Sept. 21, 1869.

Way/68838" fu elzvr:

I ter for the arm A of the axle.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

"PyELAM, or PETERSBURG, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CARRIAGE- -WH EELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 95,098, dated September 21, 1869.

do hereby declare that the following is a full clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

To enable others skilled in the art to 0011- struct and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

a My invention relates to carriages and similar vehicles; and it consists in a novel manner of constructing the boxes and arranging therein friction rollers in the hubs of the wheels, as hereinafter more fully explained.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a hub with my improvements applied, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same on the line as w of Fig. 1.

Many plans have heretofore been devised for applying friction-rollersto the bearings of wheels andjournals of various kinds; but the manner of applying them has been such that but few have been brought into practical use.

The object of my present invention is to they will not get displaced or drpp out when the wheel is taken off the axle.

In constructing my improved device I first cast a box, 0, of sufficient size to receive a'series of rollers, a, and leave space at their cen- This box 0 is made with an an nular. flange at its inner end, with a central opening large enough for the axle A to pass through, andlwith two or more radial flanges or lugs, c, on its exterior, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This box 0 is made in the form of a cup with its outer end open to the full sizeof its diameter; and I secure to this open end an annular plate, I, which also box 0 may be cast with the flange I solid on it, instead of being made separate, and fastened together by screws. I make an annular groove, 6, in the inner face of each end of the box'O, as shown in Fig.1, and I make the rollers a with small journals at each end to fit loosely in these grooves, so that when the rollers are inserted with their journals resting in the grooves, and the plate I is secured to the box 0, the rollers, while'being loose and free to revolve, are held securely therein and prevented from falling out or getting displaced. The grooves 6 should be made of such a size that when the axle is inserted the weightdoes not come upon the journals e of the rollers at all, but rests on the body of the rollers underheath the axle. When thus arranged it will be seen that while the axle bears on the rollers below those above will be lifted free from the upper side of the axle by their journals resting in the grooves e, as represented in Fig.

other suitable material.

The boxes thus made can be inserted in hubs just the same as the ordinary boxes now are, and they can be manufactured and furnished to the trade the same as any other style of box is. By this means I am enabled to produce a very complete and efficient device for the purpose intended, and one which, when thus applied, will greatly reduce the friction on the axle.

I am aware that friction-rollers have been used in a great variety of ways in journalboxes, and that they have been shown applied to a wagon-hub j ournaled in loose rings, and therefore I do not claim such a device; but;

7 Having thus described my invention, what I claim isv Abox for wagon-hubs consisting of the case 0, having the flanges cand the plate I, both having an annular groove, e, on their inner face, with the journaled rollers a mounted therein, all constructed and arranged as set forth.

- w. P. ELAM.

, Witnesses:

W. W. EWING,

' EDWARD LANING.

1. @p rplj ersnarill of course be made very l ,small, so as not to ocdupytoo mmnd. they may be made of hardened steel, or any 

